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Netherlands’ Princess Margriet pays official visit to county

The connection between Stratford and the Netherlands is as strong as ever.

Princess Margriet made an official visit to the Ontario city that hosted Dutch soldiers during World War II last Sunday afternoon, May 14, and helped unveil a new plaque recognizing the link between the two countries. The plaque was added to a statue that was erected 59 years ago, a wounded bird being supported by two hands.

“It was a wounded dove representing war-torn Netherlands being held by two strong hands representing Canada,” Stratford Mayor Dan Mathieson said. “Today we take another step forward in re-commemorating this very important statue within our community.”

The statue, located in the city's Dutch Memorial Garden on the corner of Huron and William streets, was the focus of a 15-minute ceremony in front of a crowd of about 300. It was first unveiled on Victory in Europe (VE) Day 1958 by the Dutch ambassador to Canada, then moved to its present location two years later on a site declared a memorial garden.

At the time, the Dutch government sent 1,300 tulip and daffodil bulbs for planting. Today the garden is littered with tall red and white tulips.

“The tulips around this monument here today represent a reminder of the great sacrifices made over seven decades ago and the lasting friendship that followed,” said Perth-Wellington MP John Nater. “The link between our community and the Netherlands remains stronger than ever.”

More than 2,200 Dutch citizens live in the riding, Nater said, and 630 households speak Dutch as their first language.

“Making it the third-most common spoken language in Perth-Wellington,” he said.

Decorated World War II veteran Art Boon, a Stratford resident who fought to liberate the Netherlands from the Nazis, spoke briefly about his experience. He ended by wishing the princess a happy Mother's Day, eliciting laughter and applause from the crowd.

After the ceremony, Princess Margriet – she was born in Ottawa in 1943, but the hospital's maternity ward was temporarily declared extraterritorial by the Canadian government – walked throughout the crowd greeting various spectators and accepting gifts. One of the people she approached was 10-year-old Ethan Weber.

“It was great, I liked it,” he said. “Very nervous.”

The Stratford resident was there with his parents, Dan and Tracey.

“It's a pretty big honour,” Dan said. “The way we represented ourselves back in the World War was pretty fantastic. I didn't know the history quite like that.”

The official visit ended with a private lunch at the Stratford Festival's Paul D. Fleck Marquee and another plaque dedication. The monument is in honour of the Juliana Kazerne barracks at the former McLagan furniture factory at Douro and Trinity streets, a facility used to train Dutch soldiers from January 1941 to the fall of 1942, Mathieson said.

“We are going to put this on the corner to signify the importance of that building and the history of our community,” he said.

“Thank you very much,” the princess responded. “Very warm welcome and it was wonderful to be here.”